


Better Days May Come

by NipponNeko



Category: Karneval
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-13
Updated: 2013-05-12
Packaged: 2017-12-11 17:27:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/801257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NipponNeko/pseuds/NipponNeko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>By some random scheme some humans are endowed with extra human abilities. Kafka is a group that tries to create this effect with regular people in hopes to evolve the race as a whole. The government agency, Circus, will not let them proceed unchecked. Nai, Karoku, and Gareki end up involved and have navigate their way through this world and sometimes its easier to join the Circus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Days May Come

Huh….huh……huh…..

  
Nai could see his breath as he ran. Karoku told him to run and keep running. That he would catch up with him at the previously agreed rendezvous point.

The moon was out and shining brightly but hard to see in the streets below. The lowliness of the slums couldn’t even allow that to reach the ground, let alone the residents. Many people milled around not having anything else to do but populate the streets.

Nai rounded a corner at a descent speed as another boy came around the corner in a different direction. They collided.

The other boy had been carrying a lot of machine type items. They flew every which way and crunched as they met the hard ground. The boy fell with a thump as well.

He had goggles around his eyes and was wearing a long blue coat. There was a permanently crossed looked etched into his face.

Really? These stupid kids never think about the consequences of their actions. Running around like that. It just looks suspicions. This kid looks harmless though. Maybe I can get some ‘compensation’ for this fall.

Nai looked at the boy before getting up and muttering an “I’m sorry” before he continued to run. Kafka knew he was here and they were on his tail. He just couldn’t shake them this time. He could hear them coming and it just caused him to become more desperate.

Karoku said he would be fine as long as he and Nai ran in different directions. Nai couldn’t hear Karoku very well. Either he had ran further than he originally had thought or Karoku’s mental presence was weakening.

No! He couldn’t think like that. Karoku was safe. He was always safe. But Karoku always said to stick to the plan. Even if Karoku’s part fell through. With his determination renewed Nai continued running.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Gareki started to collect his items. For once he wasn’t on the run and wasn’t really concerned. That kid on the other hand seemed to be running from death itself. In this part of the city that could very well be the case. At least he had to decency to mutter an “I’m sorry” while running away. Most would have just accused him or not have acknowledged their fault in the wreck to begin with.

Still if he saw that kid again he would make him pay. These were his new toys that had just become available to the public. There weren’t just things one could find in a rundown pawn shop, or any shop in this part of the city for that matter.

There were many different machines and machine parts lying mournfully on the ground. Most of them would just need a tweaking to work again, but some of the more fine pieces would be damaged beyond repair. Well for the average person anyway. Still it would be a pain to have to repair all of them. He got them new for convenience, not necessity.

Uhhh…..Now he had to go and get more. Somehow he knew this day would be full of the same rotten luck that had landed him in this dump to begin with. City life, or slum life around the city wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t easy. Hopes and dreams of making it to the city were beaten out people fast. Literally, figuratively, it didn’t matter much when stomachs began to growl and it would be another day void of food or a place to sleep for the night.

Gareki was doing fairly well for himself. He was able to support himself in a Robin Hoodesque fashion. He stole from the corrupted rich to support himself and others on the job and only agreed when the others were in as a dire situation as him. With this source of income Gareki was able to cover many expenses of living and was even able to save up money to support his little habit involving machines.

Right when Gareki reached down to get his final machine four guys in suits with dark glasses came running by in the same direction as the kid and stomped right on it. Gareki wouldn’t have given it enough thought to take action, but obviously those guys had seen him and they hadn’t taken any consideration of him to not trample on his machines like raging elephants they resembled. Now it was undeniably personal and Gareki was involved He had to find out more about those guys somehow. While that weird kid with the white hair may pay, those shady guys definitely would.

 --------------------------------------

Just when Yogi had given up on his reconnaissance mission he caught four of Kafka’s guys tearing through an ally way; they were so caught up in the chase they hadn’t even bothered to check if someone was following them. Idiots.

“I have a visual on four Kafka men engaged in some sort of pursuit. Should I interfere or watch it play out?” Yogi took his hand off the mic to wait for an answer.

“Wait. We know these men are from Kafka, we have the proof of that. What we need is a link to their superiors. See if this has potential. But if a citizen is in trouble do act accordingly. Last thing we need is to hand in a report saying the Second Airship of Circus was incapable of doing their jobs and instead of handling the miscreants helped them get away.” The calculated voice of Hirato filtered through the communication device and traveled to Yogi’s awareness.

“Roger. Operation Watch Cat under way. Nya” Yogi responded with a cute flair to take tension away from the current situation, or try to. In the end it proved unsuccessful.

“Be serious now Yogi and do not underestimate them. We don’t need injured personal and you don’t want to give Akari more trouble then you already have, do you?” Hirato’s implied threat sounded loud and clear over the communication device as a cold sweat began to spread over Yogi. Forget Kafka. Yogi would have taken being captured by them any day over being forced into the same room with Dr. Akari for ‘examinations.’

Silence followed on the communication device as Yogi followed the men intensely while Hirato waited for an update in the information.

“Wait. I think I may see their quarry. Should I engage to defend or let the scenario play out?” Yogi questioned unable to take the chance of being wrong.

“Is he a varuga or is he normal? If he is just human then interfere. Remember, no racy reports now, Yogi. Judge the situation carefully.”

“Well their target has blue hair and seems quite distressed. I think he is an innocent or in any case does not want to go with these Kafka guys.” A couple more minutes went by of Yogi following the blue haired teen as he raced around the slum streets avoiding people and Kafka members alike. He seemed to take caution in not trying to disturb the already broken city area.

“I am going to intervene. I will take out the known Kafka agents and detain the runner for questioning. Is that acceptable, Captain?” Yogi asked while already moving to fulfill his decree by leaping off the roof behind the Kafka agents in hot pursuit.

“Yoohoo! Kafka guys. Why are you chasing that nice looking boy there?” Yogi practically sang as he made his grand entrance. “With raising male spirit, the sparkling Prince ready for battle is right here.”

The men gradually stopped their pursuit as they turned around to stare incredulously at Yogi.

“And what are you supposed to be?” a spokesman from the group emerged.

“No one in particular, just a young man trying to help another; however I have the backing of a little National Defense Agency called Circus. Maybe you’ve heard of it?”

“Crap. Aahhh. Uro isn’t going to like this. We were to act inconspicuously and nab them. Well, I guess we just need to cover our tracks. I mean it’s just one guy from Circus, we can take him.” The speaker drawled as the other three showed their consensus as they gathered around their newly appointed leader.

As the men started to converge around Yogi the blue haired teen had continued to run for a short distance before stopping to observe that his chasers really had been distracted. Just when he was about to start running again to a destination unknown to Yogi, the kid saw his savior was only a couple of years older than him and grossly out numbered. Sighing he turned back around to help and be chivalrous in his misguided mind.

Yogi was surprised in the fact the blue headed teen had stopped running and was wondering if he should be insulted in the fact this teen thought he couldn’t handle these thugs by himself. Then again the kid probably hadn’t heard he was with Circus given the distance he was at when Yogi had told these punks. Oh well, it made his job of detaining the blue head a person of interest much easier, he wouldn’t have to track him down now.

The men had decided to attack at the same time to completely overwhelm Yogi by jumping on him but failed. While being air born Yogi simultaneously took out all of the offenders by materializing his swords and bashing them on the backs of their heads. The resulting score being one for Yogi and zero for the Kafka agents.

All of the men lay on the ground completely knocked out and unaware of their surroundings. Yogi stood over them pouting a bit; he really didn’t care for violence and should have just left it for the other guy to handle. He would too, next time.

The blue head that had been coming back to help had turned and started running again seeing that Yogi could defend himself and could potentially be a new threat, a worse threat than the Kafka agents ever were.

Now he can’t be allowed to get away. We promised Hirato that we would hold him for questioning, Yogi.

Yogi used his already exposed weapons to grow vines so they would shoot out and wrap around the teen’s legs as he tried to get away.

Latching onto target, Yogi.

Now that he thought about it, Yogi realized that this kid had been doing a lot of running and had been successfully out running the Kafka agents who had definitely been part of the Evolution Project since they had shown their increased attributes.

“I’m sorry. I can’t let you go now. My superiors have some questions they would like to be answered.” Yogi informed the teen as the vines caught up and snuggly secured themselves to the boy. The kid continued to shake and move in an attempt to free himself from his new unwanted burden.

The boy struggled with the vines, tugging and pulling, before he stopped for a moment to take a deep breath before finally snapping off the vines to get free. Yogi’s mouth opened to gap at the action. He hadn’t seen someone break his vines for a while and this kid wasn’t his first choice for accomplishing the task.

A cane flew done and imbedded itself between the teen’s jacket and the ground, halting his escape efforts once again.

“Well there is something I don’t see very often. Normal humans cannot pull these vines off. So that brings up the question of what are you? An Evolved Project gone wrong?” A new voice from above sunk down onto Yogi and the teen struggling with his new obstruction to obtain freedom.

“Ah, Hirato! Thank you for showing up. Gin was saying to put on this tough guy act to be cool but I can’t do it. It is so mean. I don’t have to fight anymore tonight, do I?” Yogi’s attitude completely changed with the addition of the Captain to the scene.

“First we need to decide what to do about them. I don’t think Akari needs anymore samples to test on so the only option left is ‘disposal.’” Hirato finished his assessment with a small smirk. He lifted his hand to the hat resting upon his head. It broke up into small glittering lights that materialized into girls. The girls went to surround the four unconscious men.

A bright light started to emit from the girls as they began to alternate positions by revolving in a circular motion before it became so unbearably bright the blue haired boy had to not only close his eyes but turn his whole head away from the scene to save his eyes from the obnoxious light.  
When the kid could finally re-open his eyes the men were gone and the Captain’s hat was back to sitting innocently on his head; a frightful power hidden in plain sight and totally inconspicuous.

“Now what to do about you?”

“I don’t know, Hirato. This kid has amazing stamina. He was able to evade those Kafka guys before I could even see them, who knows how long that was, and he even broke my vines. Definitely not actions of your average human.” Yogi supplied Hirato with his perspective information.

“No it definitely isn’t. Well what do you say, boy? How were you able to run for so long?” Hirato decided to ask the boy directly but didn’t really expect a response that answered his questions.

The boy looked up from the place on the ground where he had been staring at with the cane now frimly tethering him to the ground. He had tried tugging as he had done with the vine but the cane refused to be budged. The only way it was coming out was if this ‘Hirato’ person took it out himself and somehow the bluenett doubted that would happen anytime soon.

“I asked you a question.” Hirato had covered the distance from behind the men that use to be there and beside Yogi to right in front of the boy’s face. There was no personal space to be comfortable in.

“I’m not with Kafka, if that’s what you want to know. And I have great stamina because this is not the first time something like this has happened. Now let me go. I am a private citizen and have done nothing wrong. I cannot be held for any sort of wrong doing that I have not committed. You already apprehended the perpetrators; your business should be complete.” The boy resorted to law for his defense and innocence.

Hirato could only give a small smile in response to the boy’s bravado.

“Yes, that would normally be true for an agency like the Security Force, dedicated to the well-being of private citizens from ‘low profiled’ criminals. We are not them. We are Circus, a higher organization meant to keep the peace in this nation with the backing of the government while we hunt ‘high profiled’ criminals. The laws tend to bend a bit to what is needed for the job, as long as it is not too far out of reason. This is not that far out of reason.”

“Che.” With one final preparation of breath the blue haired teen finally ripped his shirt from the cane and ran away before even Hirato could react. For a second Hirato stood there stunned with his mouth in an almost surprised expression before it began smirking.

Interesting.

“This does not help your case of not being affiliated with Kafka at all because that was definitely not a ‘normal’ human act.” Hirato smirked as he gave chase. This kid was so cut thinking he could get away.

Yogi sighed as he followed his captain. Somehow he knew this had turned from a simple hunt down Kafka mission to let’s stalk and find out information about a teen boy. If he didn’t know the Captain that well he would have thought it was for something more…..perverse. Well even knowing the Captain didn’t make the action seem any less perverse. His captain did have the strangest taste after all.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

It was all Karoku could think as he now had to out run his new potential enemy, Circus.

Forget Kafka, Karoku was use to out running those clowns but Circus? They were in a whole other league.

This was bad, very bad. He had done such a good job of keeping Kafka off his and Nai’s backs and Circus unaware of their existence. Only for all his hard work to be ruined in a single night.

When Kafka had closed in on him and Nai that night he had come up with the plan of leading those guys away. He would bait them away and allow Nai to blend in and disappear. Karoku and Nai both knew he could handle his task of leading Kafka away from Nai, but Kafka hadn’t fallen for the bait. Only four guys had followed Karoku, meaning the other four were still chasing Nai.

Karoku had meant to handle his situation before heading over to help Nai but had noticed a presence following him. Or who he had thought had been following him. If he had known it was Circus following Kafka he would have high tail it over to Nai at once.

He had to get to the rendezvous spot and hope Nai was there or close to getting there. They needed to grab their few belongings and hustle it out of this slum.  
It had been a foolish move to come so close to the city and Kafka’s back yard. So much for following a lead, more like falling for the bait.

Nai! Nai! If you aren’t already to the meeting spot get there soon. The Kafka guys chasing me are gone, but we have an even bigger fish on our tail. We need to move. Now!

Karoku sent his thoughts to Nai with his whole being trying to communicate the message. He only hoped Nai was in hearing distance and could catch the message seeing as he was moving with an incredibly fast speed at the moment.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Gareki chased those guys down. He needed to get within a certain distance from them. Then with one of his toys he would be able to copy all the digital information these guys had on them. Cell phones, credit or debit cards, and website info would all become his.

Now which way did those punks go? He looked right and left but had no indication of their direction. He needed a vantage point to look down on the streets and not be completely conspicuous.

Ah, yes that would do quite nicely. Gareki headed over to a tall building for the area with a fire escape. With some effort and a lot of shimmying Gareki was able to reach the top floor of the building. Then with some of his toys he was able to pull himself to the roof.

He would have to remember this building because the view from it wasn’t too bad. He could even see into the real city part with all the bright lights carelessly left on and clean, vibrant feeling radiating over the area. What a constant reminder of failure and broken dreams for people.

A sound of a confrontation drew Gareki’s attention.

“Karoku! Karoku, I need help. Karoku, please!”

Looking closer Gareki could see it was the white hair kid that had plowed him over and started this whole mess. Forget just copying the shady guys’ info, he was getting that kid’s as well. Teach him a lesson of being more careful when running through an inhospitable place like the slums.

Having his target in sight Gareki began to descend onto the streets. He jumped and skipped a few flights making it take less time to reach the streets than it did to reach the roof.

When he got to the base of the building he noticed this was a fairly deserted area, meaning he had to take cover behind objects instead of blending in with the crowd. He found some trash bins and boxes sitting out in the opening in an area providing him with a good vantage point.

As he looked around into a dead end alley, he saw all his targets in one area. The white haired kid surrounded by the suits and shades. Well, at least he knew why the kid was running. Maybe he wouldn’t steal his info? Nah. It was a learning experience. Don’t draw others into your personal affairs.

Gareki was in a range to collect all the data he wanted. Pulling out one of his most useful machines he coaxed it to do his bidding.

Come on, baby. Work for Daddy. It’s time to take some info from some people, ‘kay?

Gareki sent his thoughts into the machine and the screen lit with a dim light as it began to take all the information from the occupants of the alleyway.

Standing there for a few seconds Gareki got the basic idea of what was happening. These thugs were working for someone to take this kid back to them. Obviously the kid didn’t want to go.

Really Gareki should leave. Right now. He was going to leave right now. He had the info he wanted.

His feet never even started to move. Gareki remained planted in his spot observing the happenings of these people.

“Finally, we caught you. Uro will be so pleased. You have been a pain in the neck to catch. And if we have you, we can bet this Karoku will show up as well; especially since you screamed so prettily for him to come save you, boy.” One of the shady guys decided to become the spokesman for the group while another started to dial a number on their phone. A number Gareki had too, now.

Putting his own phone up to his ear Gareki told his gadget to let him listen to the conversation going on between the two.

“Boss, we caught one of them.” This guy was the underling to a bigger fish in the end. Maybe Gareki would get a new target. Gangs were no biggie to steal from anonymously. An optimal target too, if they spent time abducting little kids.

“Which one?”

“The kid. The one with the white hair. He isn’t a very good runner. We expect the other one will show up for him eventually. They never move without the other.”

“Where are you now?”

“In an alleyway.”

“You fools. I told you to stick to populated areas. Even if the other one does show up, you can’t be sure you’ll get him. Wait, how many of you are there?” These guys weren’t that smart in the eyes of their boss.

“Four. Four for this brat and four for the other.”

“Radio them.”

“What?”

“I told you radio them now.”

“Fine.” There was a pause, probably the guy picking up his radio and fiddling with the dials. “Hey, Kouga, you there?” Static was the only answer. “Kouga?”  
The man switched back to the phone.

“There is no reply.”

“Move to a populated area now. Karoku will not risk endangerment by exposing them.”

“Sure, moving now.” With the conversation over the man put away his phone and picked up the white haired kid like a sack of flour.

He had been struggling through the whole conversation trying to get free from his captors hold, but failing to in the end. He was so weak. Definitely the kind to get taken advantage of and definitely the type that died in places like the slums.

The men started to move out of the ally way, toward Gareki.

Gareki didn’t move. He could feel impulse taking over as he stood there. He should leave before the men come out and discover him. He should not get involved. He…..shouldn’t let an innocent kid get taken right before his eyes.

Walking confidently the men stopped when they spotted him.

“Is this the other kid? He looks about the right age.” One of the men assessed.

“No, you idiot. He has black hair. The kid we want has blue. Are you color blind or something?”

“No, just illiterate, couldn’t read the memo.” He sheepishly admitted.

“Then get a better memory.” A new voice emerged from the opposite side of the alleyway. This was the other boy these men were looking for. How could he get mistaken for him?

He looked very different from Gareki.

“Karoku! I knew you were coming.” The white haired boy immediately perked up and had a carefree smile come over his face.

How could anyone smile like that in a situation like this? Gareki had trouble smiling even in times of happiness, let alone distress.

“Sorry I’m late Nai. I had to lead our new tails off my trail. You,” Karoku pointed to the men detaining ‘Nai,’ “should remember to stay out of our way next time.”

“Why, what are you going to do? We have been enhanced to the same degree you have.” Cockiness radiated off the men like heat off the sun.

It showed itself to be misplaced. Before Gareki could blink the men were all unconscious and Karoku was helping Nai get around the pile of them.

Those men had been strong in build and looked like they had some sort of training. They had to have been running all around town. All of them. The two teens in front of him and the guys now laying unconscious. This Karoku had to be running around even more than Nai and was still able to immobilize these guys. What is he made of?

“Never compare an original to a cheap imitation. It will always be glaringly obvious which is superior.” Karoku started checking over Nai and seemed to be having a silent conversation with boy that involved Nai doing a lot of head shaking.

“Oh, sorry to get you involved. You probably want to beat it before they come to or other undesirables turn up.” Karoku didn’t look up from this Nai character at all. Gareki was an afterthought.

Whatever. The kid was safe and he had information to destroy the men financially while also being able to support his life style. It was a win for everyone involved.

“Wait.” Nai called out.

Gareki turned around to face the kid.

“Please erase the information you took from me. It could prove hazardous for you later on.” A gentle smile stayed on the kids face. “No way! How did this kid know…..what is going on? Isn’t that what is going through your head right now. Yes, I can. Just like how you have technology at your beck and call.”

Gareki stared at Nai with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. This couldn’t be happening. It shouldn’t be possible.

What are these two?

“Oh, so you are an advanced human too. Well this makes things interesting.” Karoku sauntered up to him and stared coldly into his eyes. “Are you part of Kafka or Circus? Are you here for us as well?”

Kafka? And Circus? The crime fighting agency? What kind of trouble were these kids in to warrant that kind of law enforcement. Gareki wasn’t a stickler for the rules and knew he could evade the Security Force, but everyone knew being in trouble with Circus meant you had to be in some deep shit.

“Mmmm. No, he isn’t involved Karoku. We should leave. I feel the new chasers approaching and we need to find somewhere to rest. They will be here shortly.” Nai tugged Karoku away from him.

“Your right, Nai. Sorry, I’ve been wasting time tonight.” He positioned Nai so Nai was riding piggyback on Karoku. Then with a blink of Gareki’s eyes the two were gone and the wind was blowing Gareki’s coat about.

Gareki stood there stunned for a bit trying to process the information in his frozen brain. A sound from the pile of men drew his attention. They were starting to wake up.

This time Gareki really did start to walk away. Away from this incident, those kids, and the trouble it was all but certain to bring him.

Only for a cane to crash down and catch his coat while a new person started to talk to him.

“Oh, is he to be our detour? How interesting. Boy, tell me about how those men ended up like that.” The man flew done from the sky wearing a top hat and a smirk. Another man, younger, came down behind him wearing an unsure expression.

“We really would like to know.”

Gareki felt it. He was involved now.

**Author's Note:**

> This has been the longest chapter for a story I have written so far. I am really going to try and update this story until it is complete. I have an idea of how it will go, but no official planning.  
> Sorry for making Karoku and Nai come in and out of the story. I didn’t really want to mess with their relationship since we are really only now seeing it in the manga.  
> Also sorry if people seemed to be out of character, I tried my best, but this is fanfiction and this fan will manipulate fiction to get the wanted effect. Okay? Nice? It’s settled.  
> Who is Gin that Yogi is talking about? What is the Evolution Project? Why did those men seem so confident?  
> I know and maybe the next time I update you will to too. Like I said, no planning.  
> This is written and checked over by me. I have no beta so if there are mistakes please tell me. English is my first language; I am just horrible at grammar. I basically rely on a cool head and spellcheck.  
> Review and tell me what you think. The first people to give correct answers to the questions will get some sort of a prize. A plot reveal or character in the story at some part? I haven’t decided yet.  
> Thanks for reading all of this. Bye.


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